Arizona Proposition 102 was an

amendment An amendment is a formal or official change made to a law, contract, constitution, or other legal document. It is based on the verb to amend, which means to change for better. Amendments can add, remove, or update parts of these agreements. They ...

the constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...

of the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

adopted by a

ballot measure A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...

held in 2008. It added Article 30 of the Arizona Constitution, which says: "Only a union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a

marriage Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

in this state." The amendment added a constitutional ban on

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same legal Legal sex and gender, sex. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 38 countries, with a total population of 1.5 ...

to existing statutory bans in place since 1996. In October 2014, Article 30 of the Arizona Constitution was struck down as unconstitutional in the

United States District Court for the District of Arizona The United States District Court for the District of Arizona (in case citations, D. Ariz.) is the U.S. district court that covers the state of Arizona. It is under the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The District was esta ...

, and is no longer enforced by the state of Arizona, which subsequently allows and recognizes same-sex marriages. Despite the court ruling, Article 30 remains in the state's constitution, and on the

Arizona State Legislature The Arizona State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Arizona. It is a bicameral legislature that consists of a lower house, the House of Representatives, and an upper house, the Senate. Composed of 90 legislators, the ...

's website there is no indication that Article 30 of the constitution was struck down or otherwise rendered inoperative.

Overview

On August 26, 2008, Arizona Attorney General

Terry Goddard Samuel Pearson "Terry" Goddard III (born January 29, 1947) is an American attorney and politician who served as the mayor of Phoenix, Arizona from 1984 to 1990 and as the 24th attorney general of Arizona from 2003 to 2011. He is a member of the ...

and Secretary of State

Jan Brewer Janice Kay Brewer (''née'' Drinkwine; born September 26, 1944) is an American politician who served as the 22nd governor of Arizona from 2009 to 2015, as a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party. Prior to this, Brewer ...

agreed that the ballot description would state that same-sex marriage was already prohibited by

statute A statute is a law or formal written enactment of a legislature. Statutes typically declare, command or prohibit something. Statutes are distinguished from court law and unwritten law (also known as common law) in that they are the expressed wil ...

. Incorporating the same provision into the

Arizona Constitution The Constitution of the State of Arizona is the governing document and framework for the State of Arizona. The current constitution is the first and only adopted by the state of Arizona. History The Arizona Territory was authorized to hold a ...

was meant to prevent an Arizona court from ruling that the statute was invalid under the Arizona Constitution. Along with similar measures in California (

California Proposition 8 (2008) Proposition 8, known informally as Prop 8, was a California ballot proposition and a constitutional amendment, state constitutional amendment intended to ban same-sex marriage. It passed in the California state elections, November 2008, Novemb ...

) and Florida (

Florida Amendment 2 (2008) Florida Amendment 2 is an amendment made to the constitution of the U.S. state of Florida in 2008. It added Article I, Section 27 to the constitution, which defines marriage as a union only between one man and one woman, and thus bans the crea ...

), Proposition 102 was decided by voters in the general election on November 4, 2008. The amendment passed by a margin of 56% in favor and 44% against. Proposition 102 had no immediate impact because its definition of marriage was consistent with the existing statutory definition. As an amendment to the Constitution of Arizona, the definition cannot be changed by the state legislature, and the possibility that a state court might find a state constitutional guarantee of same-sex couples' right to marry is eliminated.

Supporters and opponents

As of August 27, 2008 three committees related to Proposition 102 were registered with the Secretary of State: YESforMarriage.com supporting Prop 102 was the one committee in support, and the two committees in opposition were No on Prop 102 and Arizona Together Opposed to Prop 102. Supporters said that Proposition 102 was necessary to prevent judges changing the legal definition of marriage, as was done in

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

and

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

. Opponents said that Proposition 102 was unnecessary because same-sex marriage was already illegal in Arizona, and that there were more pressing issues facing Arizona; also they cited the issue of the separation of church and state.

Miscellaneous

Proposition 102 was placed on the ballot via referendum rather than through the initiative process on the last day of the legislative session. Presiding State Senator Jack Harper defeated a filibuster on June 27, 2008 to place the proposed Constitutional Amendment on the ballot. Harper faced an ethics investigation over allegedly violating Senate rules by cutting off the microphones of two senators who were attempting to filibuster the bill. Despite the fact that Harper admitted to cutting off the microphones intentionally, a Senate ethics committee consisting of three Republicans and two Democrats voted 3–2, along strict party lines, to dismiss the charges. State Senators Jack W. Harper, Ronald Gould, Thayer Verschoor, and John Huppenthal stood out as the proponents of the Marriage Amendment to the Arizona State Constitution. The language of Prop 102 was adopted as a strike-everything amendment to Senator Gould's SCR1042. In 2006, a more restrictive measure, Proposition 107, had been defeated in the general election.

Results

By county

Full text

Effects

The amendment, which took effect on December 1, 2008, constitutionally banned same-sex marriages, which were never recognized by the state and was statutorily banned since 1975. Arizona became the 29th US state to ban same-sex marriage in its constitution. This preempted the state judiciary from requiring the state to legally recognize same-sex marriages and preempted the

from enacting a statute legalizing same-sex marriages.

Pre-decision opinion polls

References

External links

YESforMarriage.com
(Yes on Prop 102)
Arizona Together
(No on Prop 102)
Arizona Proposition 102 (2008) – Ballotpedia

The Money Behind the 2008 Same-Sex Partnership Ballot Measures – The National Institute On Money In State Politics
{{Same-sex unions in the United States 2008 Arizona elections 2008 ballot measures in the United States Arizona ballot measures LGBTQ in Arizona U.S. state constitutional amendments banning same-sex unions 2008 in LGBTQ history Same-sex marriage ballot measures in the United States